Skeet shooting has long been a popular sport. Recently, night skeet ranges have appeared. Even though the ranges are illuminated, the skeet shooting enthusiast finds the lighting insufficient to perceive the flight of his pellets as they progress toward the moving target. There is no problem if the shooter hits the target, but for the purpose of correction, it is essential that he know whether he missed because he aimed too high, too low, too far to the right or too far to the left.
Prior art tracer elements have recognized the problem and attempted to solve it through the use of (1) pyrotechnic materials as shown by Stoner in U.S. Pat. No. 3,405,638 and Cowles et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,390; (2) complicated retroreflective systems such as Bellinger's in U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,632; and (3) tedious pellet modifications as evidenced by Schmitt in U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,735.
These prior devices have proved dangerous, expensive or have failed to simulate the actual trajectory of shotgun pellets.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide shot pellets for a shotgun cartridge which enable a nighttime skeet shooter to follow the trajectory of his shot pellets.
It is a further object of this invention to provide shot pellets for a shotgun cartridge that are encapsulated with light reflective coatings.
It is another object of this invention to provide shot pellets for a shotgun cartridge that are encapsulated with light reflective coatings and covered by thin lubricant films.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a protective plastic liner surrounding the encapsulated and lubricant covered shot pellets.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become clear from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention.